Greetings to all: Trash Lady here, hoping to add to understanding of Solid Waste Management in Minneapolis. Warning, this is a little long, and unless you're really into trash, somewhat gross.
1. It is important that ALL trash be bagged before you put it into EITHER a large or small cart. The reasons for this are three-fold: (1) In the summer, garbage juice coats the sides of the cart if it's not bagged. Not all customers wash out their carts each week, and the constant "basting" of the insides of the carts with fresh juice creates a VERY odiferous coating, which neighbors up and down the alley become subjected to. Furry Friends visit carts with unbagged garbage much more frequently than those with bagged garbage---They, unlike your neighbors, appreciate the stench, and are willing to destroy the cart to get to your goodies. (2) In the winter, non-bagged garbage freezes to the sides of the carts. Our customers have made it very clear that they want the carts completely emptied each week, and trying to scrape out frozen garbage from the bottom interior of 900 carts per crew per day is not only almost impossible, it's unreasonable to expect of our workers or contractors. (3) (Most Important!!) It's a SAFETY issue for our crews. Unbagged garbage, with it's juice and other personal and bacterial unmentionables, has a much greater tendency to fall out of the carts when they're tipped. It's an unforgettable and seriously unhealthy experience to have fish guts, diapers, rotten peach peelings, and other household waste fall on your head when it falls out of the cart; sawdust and cat litter that is not bagged explodes on impact with the truck bed and blows into worker's eyes and mouths, unbagged bottles with small amounts of liquid remaining in them "squirt" when compacted, and the list goes on. It is less important whether you use paper or plastic bags when you take out the garbage, but the use of bags IS important. Your individual hauler may have "let you by" with unbagged garbage----we understand that we have lots of "rules" that Minneapolis customers need to remember about their garbage. However, this IS one of the rules that we have, and it is a rule that is critical to our ability to handle Minneapolis garbage as safely as possible. With respect to small carts, yes, the crew does "bag out" these carts, because they do not fit well on our tippers. 2. The most important reasons that Minneapolis started with garbage carts in 1987 was to decrease the amount of garbage and litter being strewn in Minneapolis alleys, to promote the protection of public health and safety and to maintain a Clean City. Bags of garbage next to the carts are subject to predation by the Furry Friends mentioned above, small kids, cars driving down the alley, snowplows, and a variety of other agents. When the bags break, garbage is scattered all around, and needs to be raked up and contained by the customer before we'll collect it on our regular rounds. Yes, I understand that Christmas, the Fourth of July gathering at your house, the week before school starts, and Spring Cleaning happen, and that folks occasionally have extra trash. Occasional bags or boxes of garbage next to the cart are fine---but if there are extra bags 3 weeks out of five, we send you a letter suggesting that you may need an additional garbage cart, and asking you to call us if you disagree. 3. Minneapolis began the small cart program to comply with Minnesota Law requiring all haulers to bill on a "variable rate" basis. Prior to implementing the small carts, we had several pilot programs including use of 3 sizes of carts, marking of carts and recording "fullness" each week, automated weighing of each cart with billing by the pound, and every week Vs alternate week collection. We collected and analyzed reams of data, and determined that from an operational, customer service and cost effectiveness standpoint, the large cart-small cart-multiple carts method of tracking and billing disposal needs was the best alternative. The most surprising finding for most people was that the average amount of garbage in a 20 gallon cart is 37 pounds per week, and in a 94 gallon cart is 53 pounds per week. Small carts are "stuffed" and large carts are "fluffed." We pay for garbage by the ton, not by the volume. Therefore, the respective disposal costs are the difference between approximately .9 tons per year and 1.3 tons per year---or in disposal costs, $35.10 and $50.7 per year. We have not had much call for a medium cart, in fact, we have about 112,000 large carts and 3,300 small carts in service. I will, again, look at offering a medium size cart, and the costs and benefits associated with it. 4. Minneapolis policy makers decided many many years ago that recycling is a good thing, and they encourage folks to recycle by offering a $7/month per dwelling unit "credit" on the Utility Bill to those customers that are signed up and participate in the recycling program. We do not have recycling police that ensure that you are recycling all possible recyclables, although we do have methods for determining compliance and we do spot checks to make sure that folks that receive the credit are, indeed, participating in the program. Like virtue, knowing that you recycle to the max is it's own reward. We emphasize being cost effective even in our recycling program (which is an oxymoron), and realize that even rabid recyclers like me take a while to accumulate enough cat food cans and neighborhood newspapers to be worth setting out for recycling collection. To be honest, 'tis a far, far better thing you do to not make waste (including recyclables and compostables) in the first place, than to generate and segregate the streams. (although that is a topic for the truly trashy among us!) Thank you for your indulgence. I hope that I answered the questions in this thread. If you have deeper questions, or have problems with our service, please don't hesitate to e-mail me off-line. _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
